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The DASH Method (short for Direction, Acceleration, Strength, and Health) was designed to help people who write—whether it's technical writing, novelists, or bloggers—get things done faster and better, but the principles can be applied to almost any type of creative work. The end result is that you work smarter, and come away feeling better about what you do.
The four principles are fairly straight-forward. Direction implies that you always start work with your end-goal in mind and a plan for how you'll get there. Acceleration encourages you to remember that getting started is everything, and to keep working until you're finished. Don't get hung up on details, after all done is better than perfect. Strength is less about training, but about bolstering your mental and physical strength by building the right environment for you to work, whether it's a quiet space with no distractions or a buzzing space that makes you feel inspired. Finally, Health reminds you to take care of yourself, take breaks, and keep brainstorming so your creative juices are flowing.
All in all, the core tenets are things that ideally you work into your work routine already, but assembling them together into a package like this one may be just the reminder you need to apply them to every aspect of your work, whether you write for a living or not. Hit the link below for a much broader description of each point, along with some additional tips.
Writing with DASH | American Management Association
Photo by TrotzOlga (Shutterstock).


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I can't explain why but not ashamed to say that I sometimes verge on feeling misty-eyed when I read some of these AFI tribute citations every year. Of course, one or two leave me feeling cold as ice sometimes too.
BRIDESMAIDS marches down the aisle of American comedy with a vow to make you laugh long and loud. Kristen Wiig's comic star shines bright as her and Annie Mumolo's ingenious script upends the wedding dream myth by capturing the horror of being named Maid of Honor. Raunchy and uproarious, the fiercely funny ensemble is guided with a sure hand by director Paul Feig, and Melissa McCarthy's explosive turn marks her arrival as a true original.
THE DESCENDANTS paints a richly convincing family portrait at once painfully funny and profoundly poignant. Alexander Payne's strikingly original film balances the intimacy of family tragedy with the expansive politics of dynastic inheritance in the year's most human comedy. With the weight of paradise on his shoulders, George Clooney delivers an eccentrically elegant turn as the reluctant patriarch who must come to terms with how to let go and when to hold on.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO invites audiences into a cold, forbidding world of family secrets and implores them to help solve the mystery. Director David Fincher brings Stieg Larsson's novel to dazzling, dark and disturbing life that pulses with cinematic pleasure. From the astounding opening credits until the harrowing journey ends, Fincher leads a stellar cast including Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer and Rooney Mara, who carves the name "Lisbeth Salander" atop the list of 2011's most transcendent performances.
THE HELP is an intimate epic that measures the cultural divide in the American south at a critical moment in the nation's march toward racial harmony. Tate Taylor's film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's bestseller soars above and beyond stereotypes to illustrate how tolerance is taught, not inherited. Measured and moving performances by Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain help make THE HELP remind us that movies can be smart, movies can be kind and movies can be important.
HUGO unlocks the hearts of all who love the movies with a key forged by grand illusionist Martin Scorsese. The film beckons audiences into a world of wonder through the eyes of a young hero, a world alive in new ways through Robert Richardson's resplendent use of 3D. This dazzling adventure is also a meditation on life and loss, deeply rooted in the powerful role movies play in our reality. With a proper tip of the beret to early pioneers Harold Lloyd and George Méliès, we are reminded that each film is a gift, and that when the masters intone, "Come dream with me," through the magic of the movies, we do.
J. EDGAR illuminates the dark corners of America's past with an ambition only attainable by an American master like Clint Eastwood. Armed with an impassioned script by Dustin Lance Black, Eastwood presents an intimate portrait of FBI Chief Hoover while moving effortlessly back and forth through time and in and out of shadows. Leonardo DiCaprio gives meaning to a monster in a towering performance that digs beneath Hoover's G-man public image to the private man who kept a nation's secrets while zealously guarding his own.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS offers a champagne toast to those who live in the present, but dream of an ideal past. Owen Wilson charms in this enchanting, post-dated postcard from the City of Lights, a stroke-of-midnight fantasy that brings to life Fitzgerald, Picasso, Hemingway and Belle Epoch figures like Degas and Lautrec. Sparkling and literate, this Francophile fantasia reminds us how lucky we are to be living in the Golden Age of Woody Allen.
MONEYBALL scores with a winning combination of sports and smarts. There's nothing by-the-numbers in this ultimate inside-baseball movie, a story driven home by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin's classic underdog script with a fresh, statistical twist. MVP performances by Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill and controlled direction by Bennett Miller celebrate the spirit of a maverick manager who believes that how we play the game of our lives is as important as winning.
THE TREE OF LIFE is an awe-inspiring, cinematic miracle. Terrence Malick's meditation on mortality is testament to the motion picture's deep roots in poetry — that images and words together can embody life. Emmanuel Lubezki's stunning visuals and compelling performances by Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and young Hunter McCracken embrace humanity in this tale of the cosmic and the microscopic. Ultimately, Malick forges a path between nature and grace, and generations will be held spellbound under the watch of his creation.
WAR HORSE advances Steven Spielberg's gallant charge into the history of American film. A masterpiece from foal to finish, the film is an epic odyssey of friendship against all odds. Marked by a driving intensity in each scene — from the plowing of a field to the battlefields of World War I — this is grand scale filmmaking in the tradition of John Ford and David Lean, but presented with a brave and bold emotion only imaginable from Spielberg and his talented team. WAR HORSE is proof that miracles can happen.
BOARDWALK EMPIRE struts into its second year with an intoxicating air, adding new layers of complexity to this sumptuous, sprawling saga of Atlantic City during Prohibition. Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter command a talented ensemble that tells a tale of America, this year uncorking the emotional inner life of Steve Buscemi's "Nucky Thompson" and the world he rules with an iron fist.
BREAKING BAD raises hell with such explosive authority that it defines the Faustian bargain for a new generation. Vince Gilligan's ingenious fable of violent corruption was marked in 2011 by the unpredictable battle of wills between Bryan Cranston's monstrous hero and Giancarlo Esposito's icy kingpin. "I won" are the words that ended the year, and that is true for all who experienced this landmark in the history of American television.
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM continues to transform one man's neuroses into cultured pearls of comedy with Larry David as the essential grain of sand. Marking its 80th episode in 2011, the show's genius continues to alchemize improv and insight, this year adding the terms "Palestinian chicken" and "social assassin" to the American lexicon and delivering borscht belt belly laughs to Beverly Hills and beyond.
GAME OF THRONES serves up a filmic feast worthy of seven kings. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss's vast epic fantasy smashes through the "small screen" with clashing swords, lusty clinches and kingdoms for the taking. Though magic and mythology swirl and surround, it is the human tale of honor, family and treachery that places this tale of dynastic mayhem in the pantheon.
THE GOOD WIFE is great television. Michelle and Robert King's deeply compelling drama asks what it is to show a public face, to live private life and to be strong in a world of secrets. Julianna Margulies leads a stellar ensemble in this ever-intelligent story of a woman spurned, whose journey forward enlightens the dark world of politics, the liberties of law and the complexities of what it is to be "good."
HOMELAND is a taut and timely tale of homeland insecurity. Creators Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon present a world ten years after 9/11, one where the nation's war on terror brings a psychological simmer to a rapid boil. Electrifying performances by Claire Danes and Damian Lewis drive this cat and mouse thriller that is, at its core, an emotional meditation on what it is to feel secure.
JUSTIFIED goes down as smooth as blended whiskey and delivers a spectacular kick. Graham Yost has reinvented the classic American western as a twangy, tangy Kentucky-fried crime drama set in present day. Distilled by the wit and unforced whimsy of Elmore Leonard, the show mines for riches with fully realized characters created by the lethally charming Timothy Olyphant and Margo Martindale, whose monstrous mountain matriarch embodies the show's folksy menace.
LOUIE looks at laughter with an unblinking eye and finds the year's most original comedy. Born from the inspired mind of producer-writer-director-editor-stand-up comedian Louis C.K., the show's brilliant contrast of a man funny and unforced onstage, while a self-deprecating single dad offstage, paints a dynamic new comic character in a rich and rewarding frame.
MODERN FAMILY is a happy marriage of hilarity and humanity. Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd's giddy group hug continues to break down the idea of an ideal with a battering ram of life-affirming laughter. From the subtlest of wordplay to the broadest of slapstick, the insanely loveable comic ensemble never fails to ignite what's fresh and funny about kith and kin.
PARKS AND RECREATION has put Pawnee, Indiana on the map of American comedy. Greg Daniels and Michael Schur's merry band of civil servants are led with antic authority by Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, whose characters are closing in on cult status among those looking for a laugh. Grown from seeds of optimism, the show blossoms with buffoonery as these loveable bureaucrats try in earnest to make their city – and television – a better place.

subset: commoncrawl


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California couple pleads guilty to hoarding 170 Yorkies
POWAY, California — (CBS AUSTIN) A San Diego County couple has pleaded guilty to hoarding more than 170 Yorkshire terriers and Yorkie mixes in filthy conditions.
Authorities say Christine Calvert and Mark Vattimo entered pleas Monday to animal neglect. They face probation and counseling and can't own pets for a decade.
Investigators who went to their Poway home in January found dozens of dogs in a dark room. The floor and walls were covered in excrement, and the dogs had a variety of problems, including fleas and matted hair.
About 30 dogs were seized later at another location and another 46 were found in a motor home in Primm, Nevada, where Calvert was arrested after fleeing the state.
The dogs — including puppies born to some of the animals — were put up for adoption.


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This article is more than 1 year old
Borland Delphi 2006
At last, another good version of the best RAD tool for Windows
Rewind to 1992. Borland has Windows development sewn up, with the Turbo C++ 3.1 compiler, the excellent Object Windows class library, and even a Windows IDE. Microsoft by contrast has C++ 7.0, the inelegant Microsoft Foundation Classes, and a complex DOS IDE called Programmer's Workbench that nobody uses.
The following year Microsoft brings out Visual C++ and condemns Borland to a C++ niche. The IDE was good enough, and owning the platform gave Microsoft C++ too many advantages for Borland to compete. Borland, however, still has a trick up its sleeve.
In 1995 it released its Visual Basic killer, a miracle called Delphi. Before Delphi, you had to compromise. You could have rapid development, or fast code, but never both. Delphi changed the rules, with a Visual Component Library that enabled drag-and-drop programming and a fast native code compiler. It should have swept the board, but somehow remained the best-kept secret in Windows development. Managers felt safer with Visual Basic, while hardened C++ coders muttered something about not liking Pascal. Those who discovered Delphi loved it for ever, but many never did.
Even a niche product can be successful, and Delphi steamed along merrily until version 7.0, though even the faithful complained about poor-value upgrades while Borland poured its energy into Java and the ill-fated Kylix project: Delphi for Linux, a desktop application tool for an operating system used mainly as a server.
Then came Microsoft .NET. Borland wanted to be in, but once again competing with the platform vendor was difficult. There was C#Builder, but all the serious C# developers stuck with Visual Studio. Then there was Delphi 8, a remarkable achievement introducing a Delphi compiler for .NET with a high level of compatibility with the Win32 version of Delphi. Developers could use the same code, but have it run more slowly, use more memory, and depend on the .NET Framework runtime. It was not a big success. Delphi 2005 was more interesting, bringing Win32 and .NET development into a single IDE, with C# thrown in for good measure. It was released too early, plagued with bugs, and some began to feel Delphi 7 was the last good Delphi Borland would ever make.
2006, and Borland has confounded its critics. Delphi 2006 is not only a bug-fixed version of the previous release, but adds in C++Builder, a Win32 development tool that marries the C++ language to Delphi's Visual Component Library. I won't dive into the sad story of C++Builder X, but enough to say that C++Builder is back; to the delight of C++Builder developers, who finally have an update they can use.
Here's why Delphi 2006 is worth a look. In the Win32 world, it is still a Visual Basic killer, now improved with the inclusion of the FastMM memory manager that delivers a noticeable performance boost both in the IDE and compiled applications. Even Delphi 7 diehards will find something to like: a decent range of refactorings, innovative and customisable "live templates" that automate the creation of common code structures, auto-alignment of controls in the form of designer, automatic highlighting of code edited since the last save, and integrated code visualisation and UML 2.0 modelling with the Together diagram tool.
There is still a role for Win32 code in the .NET era - if you doubt that, ask Microsoft, which continues to use it for its most strategic application, called Office.
Delphi is a harder sell as a .NET tool, particularly as it currently targets .NET 1.1 rather than 2.0 (a further version is promised soon). The question Borland has to answer is this: why not just use Visual Studio? One possible reason is ECO (Enterprise Core Objects), an object-relational mapping framework for .NET that after several iterations is now a pragmatic and usable approach to model-driven development. ECO is integrated with Together, and with Class Diagrams and State Diagrams, in combination with the standard Object Constraint Language (OCL) and extended by the ECO Action Language, you can generate complete applications. Full use of ECO requires the high-end Architect edition, though some parts also turn up in the Enterprise and even Professional variants.
Another Borland advantage is integration with a family of application lifecycle tools, including CaliberRM for requirements management and StarTeam for configuration and change management.
The .NET product forces some difficult decisions. Delphi ships with two .NET GUI libraries, the backwards-compatible VCL.NET and Microsoft's standard Windows Forms. For database work, the Borland Data Provider is an extension to ADO.NET that requires its own drivers, which is inconvenient. It is all a bit messy.
ECO is attractive, but the truth is that most .NET development will continue to be in Visual Studio. It is as a Win32 tool that Delphi scores most highly, particularly since Microsoft abandoned Visual Basic 6.0.
Overall, you get a lot for your money. Delphi for .NET and Win32, C++ Builder for Win32, an alternative to Visual Studio for C#, Together UML modelling, and ECO model-driven development. There's no longer even a hint of cross-platform, but for Windows developers Delphi 2006 must be worth checking out.
Read full details of what's new in Delphi 2006 on the Borland Developer Network here. ®


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Wind turbines have been selling for less than CNY 3.5 million ($550,000) per megawatt in the Chinese market, plunging by nearly 50% from CNY 6.5 million in 2008. Sinovel, Goldwind and XEMC have all reported disappointing profits this year.
It could get worse. By the end of 2010 total production capacity was around 40GW. But under the national development plan, designed to decrease the imbalance between installed and grid-connected turbines, China will only build 15-20GW of wind farms annually. In an effort to solve a major connection backlog and turbine-quality issues, the National Energy Bureau has become more prudent in approving new wind projects.
Henning Kruse, governmental affairs director for Siemens Wind Power, said that - in the face of the surplus production capacity and excessive market competition - wind turbine manufacturers need to maintain quality and learn to say no when the profit margins are too low. "We cannot sacrifice profits for market share," he told delegates at the China Wind Power conference in October.
Long warranties
Many Chinese manufacturers are following the worldwide trend to develop large-capacity turbines in the 3-6MW range. But some Chinese developers are concerned about the smaller products that make up the bulk of orders and are demanding longer warranty contracts.
Warranty periods for wind turbines have been extended from the previous two years to three years, five years, and over ten years. Some turbine makers have even offered a 20-year warranty period to gain market share. However, as the theoretical lifespan of a wind turbine is 20-25 years there is a danger of extending warranties beyond what could be regarded as feasible.
"Now, some wind farms demand a 20-year warranty period for major components - if this continues, big companies signing 1,000-2,000 turbine contracts have gone bankrupt in theory," said Long Xin, deputy general manager of XEM.
"The problem is that turbine and component makers make less than 10% profit. (But) under the payment contract, wind farms will hold back 10% of the payment for goods until the warranty period expires," he explained.
Unlevel playing field
Another new trend is for leading state-owned power companies to focus on project development and turbine manufacturing.
In July, Datang Group, one of the top-five state-owned power companies, purchased a 70% stake in turbine maker Huachuang Wind Power.
China Guodian Corporation, another top-five state-owned power company, has become a big player in wind-power development and manufacturing through its subsidiaries, developer Longyuan Power and Guodian United Power, which has become one of the top five Chinese turbine makers three years after its launch.
Industry officials worry these state-owned power giants could monopolise the supply chain, acting as both wind-farm developers and turbine makers. Statistics tend to back this up. Around 60-70% of Guodian United Power turbines are sold to Guodian Power and Longyuan Power.
Cause for optimism
Despite the concerns, Chinese industry insiders are generally optimistic about the state of the domestic wind industry. Klaus Aaen, general manager of GE Wind China, said: "GE believes China is a promising market. We are confident to find new opportunities here to realise our growth."
He believed there was room to improve certain aspects of the Chinese wind power market, such as poor grid access, which might slow down the development rate for the time being.
"But I do not think the Chinese wind power market will shrink in the future," Aaen added. "It is possible the development rate will drop to a steady level. The market will be stabilised. This is not bad news for enterprises."
Shi Pengfei, vice-president of China Wind Energy Association, said the slowdown does not necessarily mean China will change its overall wind-power objectives. His position was backed up earlier this year when the government said it planned to have 1,000GW installed wind capacity by 2050, making up 17% of the country's electricity consumption and costing $1.8 trillion.


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Netflix set to raise prices for UK users
The monthly cost of a basic will remain at £5.99, however, standard and premium membership prices are set to rise.
Standard membership will jump from £7.49 to £7.99 a month, and Premium membership set to rise from £8.99 to £9.99 for users.
New subscribers to Netflix will immediately pay the new rates whereas existing customers will see price increases from 19 October and be given 30 days notice of the change
New content for 2018
The online streaming service, which currently has 104 million subscribers globally, will also be raising rates for the US, France and Germany this year.
Netflix have released a statement regarding the price hikes:
"From time to time, Netflix plans and pricing are adjusted as we add more exclusive TV shows and movies, introduce new product features and improve the overall Netflix experience to help members find something great to watch even faster."
Netflix is set to provide more original content in 2018 and already has a budget of $6 billion for new productions.
The new money generated from the subscription price rises is expected to contribute towards the production of new original content.


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The Critical Flaw with Catastrophic Global Warming Theory
I began with an 85-page book. I shortened that to a 50-minute film, and then a 9-minute film. With that experience, I think I can now pull out and summarize in just a few paragraphs why we should not fear catastrophic global warming. Here goes:
Climate catastrophists often argue that global warming theory is "settled science." And they are right in one respect: We have a pretty good understanding of how CO2 can act as a greenhouse gas and cause the earth to warm. What is well agreed upon, but is not well communicated in the media, is that a doubling of CO2, without other effects that we will discuss in a moment, will heat the earth about 1 degree Celsius (plus or minus a few tenths). This is not some skeptic's hallucination -- this is straight out of the IPCC third and fourth assessments. CO2, acting alone, warms the Earth only slowly, and at this rate we would see less than a degree of warming over the next century, more of a nuisance than a catastrophe.
But some scientists do come up with catastrophic warming forecasts. They do so by assuming that our Earth's climate is dominated by positive feedbacks that multiply the initial warming from CO2 by a factor of three, four, five or more. This is a key point -- the catastrophe does not come from the science of greenhouse gases, but from separate hypotheses that the earth's climate is dominated by positive feedback. This is why saying that greenhouse gas theory is "settled" is irrelevant to the
argument about catastrophic forecasts. Because these positive feedbacks are NOT settled science. In fact, the IPCC admits it does not even know the sign of the most important effect (water vapor), much less its magnitude. They assume that the net effect is positive, but they are on very shaky ground doing so, particularly since having long-term stable systems like climate dominated by positive feedback is a highly improbable.
And, in fact, with the 100 or so years of measurements we have for temperature and CO2, empirical evidence does not support these high positive feedbacks. Even if we assign all the 20th century warming to CO2, which is unlikely, our current warming rates imply close to zero feedback. If there are other causes for measured 20th century warming other than CO2, thereby reducing the warming we blame on CO2, then the last century's experience implies negative rather than positive feedback in the system. As a result, it should not be surprising that high feedback-driven forecasts from the 1990 IPCC reports have proven to be way too high vs. actual experience (something the IPCC has since admitted).
However, climate scientists are unwilling to back down from the thin branch they have crawled out on. Rather than reduce their feedback assumptions to non-catastrophic levels, they currently hypothesize a second man-made cooling effect that is masking all this feedback-driven warming. They claim now that man-made sulfate aerosols and black carbon are cooling the earth, and when some day these pollutants are reduced, we will see huge catch-up warming. If anything, this cooling effect is even less understood than feedback. What we do know is that, unlike CO2, the effects of these aerosols are short-lived and therefore localized, making it unlikely they are providing sufficient masking to make catastrophic forecasts viable. I go into several reality checks in my videos, but here is a quick one: Nearly all the man-made cooling aerosols are in the northern hemisphere, meaning that most all the cooling effect should be there -- but the northern hemisphere has actually exhibited most of the world's warming over the past 30 years, while the south has hardly warmed at all.
In sum, to believe catastrophic warming forecasts, one has to believe both of the following:
- The climate is dominated by strong positive feedback, despite our experience with other stable systems that says this is unlikely and despite our measurements over the last 100 years that have seen no such feedback levels.
- Substantial warming, of 1C or more, is being masked by aerosols, despite the fact that aerosols really only have strong presence over 5-10% of the globe and despite the fact that the cooler part of the world has been the one without the aerosols.
Here's what this means: Man will cause, at most, about a degree of warming over the next century. Most of this warming will be concentrated in raising minimum temperatures at night rather than maximum daytime temperatures (this is why, despite some measured average warming, the US has not seen an increase of late in maximum temperature records set). There are many reasons to believe that man's actual effect will be less than 1 degree, and that whatever effect we do have will be lost in the natural cyclical variations the climate experiences, but we are only just now starting to understand.
To keep this relatively short, I have left out all the numbers and such. To see the graphs and numbers and sources, check out my new climate video, or my longer original video, or download my book for free.
UPDATE: Based on a lot of comment activity to this post at its mirror at Climate Skeptic,
I wanted to add a bit of an update. It is sometimes hard to summarize
without losing important detail, and I think I had that happen here.
Commenters are correct that positive feedback dominated systems can
be stable as long as the feedback percentage is less than 100%. By
trying to get too compact in my arguments, I combined a couple of
things. First, there are many catastrophists that argue that climate
IS in fact dominated by feedback over 100% -- anyone who talks of
"tipping points" is effectively saying this. The argument about
instability making stable processes impossible certainly applies to
these folks' logic. Further, even positive feedback <100% makes a
system highly subject to dramatic variations. But Mann et. al. are
already on the record saying that without man, global temperatures are
unbelievably stable and move in extremely narrow ranges. It is hard
to imagine this to be true in a climate system dominated by positive
feedback, particularly when it is beset all the time with dramatic
perturbations, from volcanoes to the Maunder Minimum.
To some extent, climate catastrophists are in a bind. If historic
temperatures show a lot of variance, then a strong argument can be made
that a large portion of 20th century warming is natural occilation. If
historic temperatures move only in narrow ranges, they have a very
difficult time justifying that the climate is dominated by positive
feedbacks of 60-80%.
The point to remember, though, is that irregardless of likelihood,
the historical temperature record simply does not support assumptions
of feedback much larger than zero. Yes, time delays and lags make a
small difference, but all one has to do is compare current temperatures
to CO2 levels 12-15 years ago to account for this lag and one still
gets absolutely no empirical support for large positive feedbacks.
Remember this when someone says that greenhouse gas theory is
"Settled." It may or may not be, but the catastrophe does not come
directly from greenhouse gasses. Alone, they cause at most nuisance
warming. The catastrophe comes from substantial positive feedback (it
takes 60-80% levels to get climate sensitivities of 3-5C) which is far
from settled science.


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
The Adult Wellness Center offers a wide variety of events, classes, and activities. Many of these are free and some are offered for a fee. You can call the front desk to register for all free and paid classes/activities, and visit the front desk to make your payment. We accept cash, check, debit, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover.
Show All Answers
To become a member of the Adult Wellness Center, you need to be 50 years old or older, complete the membership application and pay the membership fee at the front desk. See the Membership page for more information.
The Adult Wellness Center is currently open from Monday-Friday 7am-7pm and Saturday 8am-12pm.
The AWC Membership rates are: $50 per year for City of Rogers residents; $60 per year for non-City of Rogers residents. This includes access to all amenities of the facility. Residency will be determined by the address on the individual's Driver's License. Please bring your license when turning in your membership application and payment to the front desk. We accept cash, check, debit, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover.
The AWC offers a daily guest pass to anyone 50 years old and older for a $5.00 fee. Membership includes two free daily guest passes for our members to bring a friend or family member along for a day. Just register as guest at the front desk.
AWC members are able to rent rooms at the Center for private functions, depending on availability. Fees vary upon event and room size. Call the center at 631-3333 and ask to speak with Brandy for more rental information.


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As 2013 closed out, the education world was roiled by yet another controversy over the calculation and interpretation of statistical data used to govern teachers and school services.
This controversy, coming to us from the nation's capital, involved, according to the report in The Washington Post, "Faulty calculations of the 'value' that D.C. teachers added to student achievement in the last school year."
"The evaluation errors," noted reporter Nick Anderson, "underscore the high stakes of a teacher evaluation system that relies in part on standardized test scores to quantify the value a given teacher adds to the classroom."
This controversy falls into a long line of previous ones stretched across the year. Now that the results from tests are being used to judge just about anything having to do with education, debates over education policy have become an endless back-and-forth over whether the data are reliable and what, if anything, they reveal.
Whether it's "white suburban moms" disputing their children's standardized test results or pundits parsing out the meaning of PISA, the nation has descended into a heated cross-fire over the impact and relevance of education statistics brandished by "reform" advocates.
While these arguments rage over the relevancy of test scores in policy making, some are now questioning, to use the operative phrase in Anderson's sentence above, whether it's even possible or preferable "to quantify the value" in education.
The whole idea that teaching and learning is a pursuit that can be expressed and judged by numbers and rankings, which seems to be a forgone conclusion to policy makers and economists, is increasingly an unsettled matter to most Americans. What they see instead more and more looks like a nation turning its back on the well being of students – especially those who are most in need.
The Impact Of IMPACT?
The reported problems with D.C.'s teacher evaluation system are just the latest example of the problems that occur when test data become a source for policy direction.
The mistake affected 44 teachers, or about 10 percent of faculty the calculations apply to. But the overall effect is way more significant when taking into account the numbers of students who are linked to each teacher.
Further, any report of flaws with the teacher evaluations in D.C. is apt to reverberate across the country. The district's system, known as IMPACT, was created under the administration of Michelle Rhee and has been touted by education advocates aligned with Rhee as a model for the nation.
As the Post's Valerie Strauss, who also reported on the IMPACT controversy, noted, "Such evaluation has become a central part of modern school reform … In some places around the country, teachers received evaluations based on test scores of students they never had."
The Truth Behind TUDA?
The reported problems with IMPACT fell on the heels of yet another statistical data dump from the week before.
That statistical disgorge is known as the Trial Urban District Assessment, or TUDA, which analyzed the performance of students in some large cities that took part in the National Assessment for Educational Progress.
The education reporter for The Huffington Post, Joy Resmovits, noted, "Washington, D.C. – a standard bearer for what's known as the education reform movement since former school chancellor Michelle Rhee's tumultuous tenure at D.C. Public Schools – was the only city to show score increases in both grades in both subjects since 2011."
So Michelle Rhee's organization, StudentFirst, immediately issued a press release claiming D.C. schools as one of the "bright spots" that show "what we can learn" from TUDA. First among the lessons was, you guessed it, IMPACT.
Of course, it's entirely unclear how students analyzed by TUDA – just fourth and eighth graders in two subjects – were in any way affected by IMPACT. Other explanations for D.C.'s superior results seem equally if not more plausible.
For instance, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, pointed to changes in early childhood education and the city's demographics as factors. "This is the first group of 4th graders that actually had pre-kindergarten. So what this is saying to us is that all-day kindergarten and prekindergarten is one of the most important investments." And the city is " becoming more and more middle class."
Meanwhile, as Resmovits noted in her article, "Statisticians warn against citing these gains as evidence of efficacy or inadequacy in debates about particular school reforms. 'It's not a causal model,' said Mark Schneider, a vice president at the American Institutes of Research, who used to oversee the Education Department's research arm. 'I get very leery when people say that 'This shows that X happened.'"
Nevertheless, there seems little hesitancy to jump into these statistical suppositions games and then use them to craft whole policies for our children.
PISA Palaver
Perhaps no assessment data draws more media attention and generates more causal explanations derived from test results than the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA.
This year's PISA results were no exception as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan staged PISA Day, a media event that spent most of five hours arguing that the scores were reasons to get behind his pet policies. And Michelle Rhee took to the pages of Time magazine to use the PISA scores as an opportunity to claim the countries that are excelling academically are doing similar things to what she espouses.
As Rutgers professor Bruce Baker explained at his blog, the primary use of PISA data in the public policy discourse is "to ram through ill-conceived, destructive policies."
Baker – whose edu-stat crunching has been compared to "Nate Silver's influential and statistically nuanced election forecast blog posts" – concluded about PISA, "Except for showing that economic conditions matter … simple rankings of countries by their PISA scores aren't particularly insightful."
"Nothin' brings out good ol' American statistical ineptitude like the release of NAEP or PISA data," Baker continued in a different blog post. Any gains or losses on these tests, Baker contended are less a matter of proving a school system is doing better, "because it allowed charter schools to grow faster, or teachers to be fired more readily by test scores," and more a simple matter that swings in results "are cohort average score differences which reflect differences in the composition of the cohort as much as anything else."
To mock the whole idea that these test results provide grand insights into "what works" in education, Matt Chingos, writing for the conservative education policy center Education Next, had a bit of year-end holiday fun and contrived "a rigorous empirical analysis that measures the causal effect of Christmas on student achievement." His conclusion – including the mandatory Excel graph! – that "student learning rises more or less in lock-step with the amount of holiday spending" is about as convincing as what Duncan, Rhee, and other "reform" leaders pull from the data. But that doesn't seem to stop them.
The absurd level of impact that test score data have on the nation's entire education endeavor would be a laughing matter if there weren't such tragic situations occurring on the ground in schools.
Back To Reality
While the nation's education leaders get lost in a numbers game, there's ample evidence from real life experiences that our children's education destinies are becoming more endangered.
As The New York Times recently reported, "Many schools face unwieldy class sizes and a lack of specialists to help those students who struggle academically, are learning English as a second language, or need extra emotional support."
According to the article elementary class sizes in parts of California have swollen to 30 students and more. The public school district in Dallas, Texas this year sought state permission for over 200 schools to increase class size of 22 students for kindergarten through fourth grade. Some high schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County in North Carolina have class sizes of as many as 40 students. And in Cobb County, Ga., average class sizes in fourth and fifth grades are now about 33 students.
The problem arises from the fact that "public schools employ about 250,000 fewer people than before the recession," while enrollments have increased by more than 800,000 students.
"The cutbacks have been particularly pronounced in less affluent school districts," Times reporter Motoko Rich noted.
On nearly the same day, another New York City newspaper, The Daily News, reported on the alarming state of education services to minority students in the system. "Black and Hispanic high school students are "getting stiffed," wrote the reporter, based on data provided by the school system.
"On average, white and Asian students attend high schools with twice as many Advanced Placement courses and almost twice as many science labs compared with schools attended by black and Hispanic students.
"Black and Hispanic students also have fewer science subjects available in their high schools and fewer arts classes and rooms … They're also less likely to have a library, medical office or gym in their school buildings."
Similarly, a report in a Boston news outlet looked at schools in California and noted, "Hispanic students in general are getting worse educations than their white peers. Their class sizes are larger, course offerings are fewer, and funding is lower. The consequence is obvious: lower achievement."
The Times article caused education historian Diane Ravitch to write on her blog, "We hear so-called reformers proclaim about the importance of teacher evaluation, merit pay, and test scores, but I have yet to hear any of them complain about budget cuts and lack of staff for the arts, physical education, foreign languages, libraries, and so on … How are schools supposed to enact any of their proposals when teachers are stressed out with crowded classrooms?"
How indeed?
2014: A Chance To Change The Conversation
The last Great Big Education Innovation called No Child Left Behind that descended on America's beleaguered schools, was supposed to close what was, and still is, called the Achievement Gap. But it's now widely understood that the whole enterprise was an utter failure. The best that NCLB proponents can offer is that it "woke the country" to the differences between the academic attainment of African American and Hispanic school children and their white and Asian peers.
But anyone who needed "awakening" then has doubtless fallen back into slumbers as the country has drifted further and further into a vast sea of segregated schools and education inequality.
Rather than seeking a different course of action, reform-minded policy makers doubled down and brought us even more destructive ways to use test score data, while real experiences of students in actual classrooms – especially in our most financially strained, underserved communities – were ignored.
2014, an election year, offers an opportunity to change that conversation. The American people are ready for it.


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New resistive touchscreen thin clients feature unique modularity and are ideal as all-in-one operator terminals in challenging environments.
May 20, 2015, YEAR (SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT) - Adding to their lineup of ThinManager® Ready hardware, industrial and embedded computer manufacturer Logic Supply (www.onlogic.com) has announced the release of their new ACP certified panel PC, the TM400. Engineered for use in challenging particulate-rich, vibration-prone and extreme temperature environments, these new touchscreen systems are intended for Industrial Control, Advanced Kiosk, Transportation, Inventory Management and Human Machine Interface (HMI) applications.
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The new TM400 is built on the Cincoze Crystal Series of panel PCs (video), featuring their patented Convertible Display System which combines reliable, bright touchscreen displays with removable PC or display modules. The Convertible Display System allows a single display to function as either an all-in-one panel when equipped with a PC module, or a secondary display when configured with a Cincoze display module. This unique modularity enables simple maintenance and upgrading, as well as out of the box multi-screen capabilities.
Available in 15", 17" and 19" sizes, the TM400 features an operating temperature range of -20°C to 70°C and an IP65 rated front bezel to prevent damage from splashed or sprayed liquids. Standard I/O includes 4 USB, 2 RS232/422/485 COM ports, VGA, DisplayPort, Line-out, Mic-in and 8-bit DIO. The system is powered by an energy efficient Intel Bay Trail processor drawing only 15W of power and can be equipped with a 2.5" HDD or CFast memory.
Logic Supply's recently-released ML100 industrial NUC computer is also in the final stages of the ThinManager certification process with ACP and should be available in the coming weeks as the ThinManager Ready TM100.
"These new systems will give our thin client customers a range of industrial hardware options to suit any virtualization need," said McCue.
Logic Supply's ThinManager Ready panel PCs are now available by visiting //www.onlogic.com/tm400. Logic Supply's full line of ThinManager Ready industrial computers is also sold by leading hardware resellers nationwide.
About Logic Supply: A leading industrial PC company, Logic Supply is powering innovation worldwide. Designing and manufacturing small, rugged computers specifically engineered for harsh environments, the company serves a variety of industrial and embedded markets. In addition to its extensive product line, Logic Supply offers custom development as well as an end-to-end OEM service program. The result for customers is a true partnership characterized by speed, flexibility and value. Visit the Logic Supply website at //www.onlogic.com/.
Darek Fanton


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BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 11, 2008 – Wood could help solve the nation's energy woes. To look at some of the possibilities, the Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources Virginia Cooperative Extension, and other key partners are holding two public meetings across the state to gain input from community leaders, planners, and economic development officers; forestry industry professionals and consultants; logging and vegetation management contractors; developers and builders; forest landowners; and interested citizens.
Both meetings will cover similar topics, although each will have a different focus. The first meeting, on Sept. 4 at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon, Va., will focus on rural issues. The second, on Sept. 29 at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va., has an urban/suburban emphasis. Those interested in attending may register online. The $25 registration fee for each meeting includes lunch and refreshments.
Woody biomass, or the accumulation of woody material above and below ground, is the most important renewable energy source in the world. "Improving the utilization of woody biomass from both rural forests and urban landscapes is a promising arena in the pursuit of a viable alternative to fossil fuels," said John Munsell, assistant professor and forest management Extension specialist in Virginia Tech's forestry department. "By tapping into currently unused sources, such wood waste typically left after harvesting operations, trees and branches removed in urban areas, and demolition debris from construction sites, we can expand renewable energy sources in Virginia."
The "Woody Bioenergy in Virginia" public meetings will cover the operational and economic challenges and opportunities related to large-scale woody bioenergy in Virginia. The goal is to gain an understanding of how woody bioenergy markets improve sustainable economic opportunities. Speakers include Congressman Rick Boucher, Congressman J. Randy Forbes, State Forester Carl Garrison, and Stephen A. Walz, senior energy policy advisor to Gov. Tim Kaine.
Meeting planning partners include Virginia Tech's Department of Forestry and Conservation Management Institute; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia Department of Forestry; Virginia Forestry Association; Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy; Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation; U.S. Forest Service; and Southern Forest Research Partnership.